Gonzaga

[Montana81]

So they play Mississippi Valley State tonight.

Gonzaga is currently 35th in the NET.

MVSU is 362nd out of 362.

I’ll be interested to see what happens to both teams computer rankings after this game.

Gonzaga will try to beat them by 100 if they can(as they should frankly, considering the net is the selection committees prime resource during the selection process and it rewards margin of victory)

 

[LineSkiCat14]

What is Mark Few doing scheduling MVSU!?

 

[KentuckyMildCats]

they may suck but that logo is awesome

 

[bbncal02]

Oh, I'd pay a goooooood chunk of money to see this upset happen. It would TANK the Zags.

 

[TheDude73]

They play an 0-9 team and are favored by 40.5 pts. I don’t see much risk for Gonzaga.

 

[Montana81]

They play an 0-9 team and are favored by 40.5 pts. I don’t see much risk for Gonzaga.

So basically they gotta cover 40.5 or close to it and their NET won’t drop for playing this game.

And if they end up winning by 50+ it could very well go up depending on what teams around them do.

 

[bbncal02]

So basically they gotta cover 40.5 or close to it and their NET won’t drop for playing this game.

And if they end up winning by 50+ it could very well go up depending on what teams around them do.

This is why you should never play these games outside of early and once per year. Dropping 41 on any team is a tall order. Because all it takes is one dude at end to hit a shot, and your cover is shot. Even though you won by say 38. Just a waste of a game.

 

[H00SIER-Cat]

Could someone remind me as to why I am supposed to hate Gonzaga?

 

[Montana81]

Could someone remind me as to why I am supposed to hate Gonzaga?

Favoritism. I just like seeing all the media darlings lose.

 

[bbncal02]

Could someone remind me as to why I am supposed to hate Gonzaga?

Overvalued clout? They're not a bad program, they just have never won anything of substance. Also that joke of a conference doesn't help them. When they go to a real conference, they'll get some more respect and a better measuring stick.

As we speak they only put up 34 on MIGHT Miss Valley stat. 2 minutes to go in the first. They should be torching them. Will be interesting to see if they blaze them down like they should in the 2nd half.

 

[The_Answer1313]

I guess for reference Uconn beat them by 34.

Edit up 20 at half so right in line lol

 

[bbncal02]

I guess for reference Uconn beat them by 34.

Edit up 20 at half so right in line lol

Now they basically have to do the same things AND add 20 points somewhere to cover. That's why this is a no win game for them. They can pick up the dub, but if they don't do it by 40.5 their ranking may slip a bit.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Up 31 now.

FWIW it doesn't really matter a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. Whether they win by 40 or 35 or 30 it's not really a hit to the ranking at all.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

I thought Few played modern offense and should be a replacement for Cal?

 

[Montana81]

They won by 38. Kenpom will update first. They were higher in Kenpom than the net. They were tied for 11th with Auburn with an adjEm of 22.84 going into the game.

 

[yoshukai]

They play an 0-9 team and are favored by 40.5 pts. I don’t see much risk for Gonzaga.

Kinda like us playing UL , lol.

 

[The_Answer1313]

They won by 38. Kenpom will update first. They were higher in Kenpom than the net. They were tied for 11th with Auburn with an adjEm of 22.84 going into the game.

And now they are 12th with an adjEM of 22.81. They essentially did as expected and thus stayed the same.

 

[bbncal02]

And now they are 12th with an adjEM of 22.81. They essentially did as expected and thus stayed the same.

See, all that for basically no gain. Zags had no business playing that game.

 

[YardCat]

I hope they continue to win until we play them

 

[bthaunert]

Overvalued clout? They're not a bad program, they just have never won anything of substance. Also that joke of a conference doesn't help them. When they go to a real conference, they'll get some more respect and a better measuring stick.

As we speak they only put up 34 on MIGHT Miss Valley stat. 2 minutes to go in the first. They should be torching them. Will be interesting to see if they blaze them down like they should in the 2nd half.

I think the overvalued part was 100% true for about 15 years. They went Elite 8, Sweet 16, Sweet 16 from 1999-2001, became the media darling and then did nothing for the next 13 years, only making it out of the first weekend twice in that span despite some decent seeds. The program took a turn in the mid 2010's in taking strong transfers, continuing the international pipeline and signing some pretty big recruits. They've been a legit top 10 (maybe even top 5?) program since then imo.

 

[bbncal02]

I think the overvalued part was 100% true for about 15 years. They went Elite 8, Sweet 16, Sweet 16 from 1999-2001, became the media darling and then did nothing for the next 13 years, only making it out of the first weekend twice in that span despite some decent seeds. The program took a turn in the mid 2010's in taking strong transfers, continuing the international pipeline and signing some pretty big recruits. They've been a legit top 10 (maybe even top 5?) program since then imo.

But they still didn't win anything. They had some good tourney runs but came up empty. And now this year, I don't know how good they will actually be.

 

[bthaunert]

But they still didn't win anything. They had some good tourney runs but came up empty. And now this year, I don't know how good they will actually be.

I understand they didn't win the whole thing. They were runner up twice in the past 6 tournaments, which is impressive and makes them a top program imo. Virginia won it all, but I don't think they are a better program that Gonzaga. I do agree that the only way for many people, like yourself, to feel they are a legit program is to win the title. Will be interesting to see if they can get it done at some point.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Could someone remind me as to why I am supposed to hate Gonzaga?

They seem to take a 1 or 2-seed a lot of years, and regardless of how good their team may or may not be, they are getting those seed lines, in part, because they play in a mid major conference.

Personally, I don't like any non P5 team stealing a top seed like that.

 

[bbncal02]

I understand they didn't win the whole thing. They were runner up twice in the past 6 tournaments, which is impressive and makes them a top program imo. Virginia won it all, but I don't think they are a better program that Gonzaga. I do agree that the only way for many people, like yourself, to feel they are a legit program is to win the title. Will be interesting to see if they can get it done at some point.

I think if you want to claim to be a top tier program you need to at least claim 1 title. I mean even Arkansas has 1 title and I'm not sure we'd consider them top tier. The best chance they had was during the Covid year (19-20) and Baylor just pwned them. I could see a scenario where they never claim one.

 

[TheDude73]

See, all that for basically no gain. Zags had no business playing that game.

There's more to playing games than just stats and standings. It's conditioning, both mental and physical. I wish we didn't have this 1 game per week December as I don't think it's healthy for the team.

 

[TheDude73]

I hope they continue to win until we play them

I will be SHOCKED if we don't win that game by 10-15 pts. If we can get at least part way back to the pre-UNCW team, even with the bigs, then I love our chances. If Cal takes over and we do this pound the post nonsense, we may well lose again, and at home this time.

 

[bbncal02]

There's more to playing games than just stats and standings. It's conditioning, both mental and physical. I wish we didn't have this 1 game per week December as I don't think it's healthy for the team.

Yeah, but that wasn't a hard game for them. I doubt they got much from it. Maybe playing time for some bench dudes, but that's about it.

 

[The_Answer1313]

It's just one game of like 30 in a season. I don't think it matters a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. Gonzaga has played some decent teams in the non conference and still have Uconn and UK coming up in non conference so I think it's fine.

This games are kind of pointless but the Mississippi Valley States of the world have to play someone lol.

 

[dmacforheisman]

I think if you want to claim to be a top tier program you need to at least claim 1 title. I mean even Arkansas has 1 title and I'm not sure we'd consider them top tier. The best chance they had was during the Covid year (19-20) and Baylor just pwned them. I could see a scenario where they never claim one.

Honestly the more time that goes by, the more titles get watered down as more teams start winning them. Not that they aren’t still great but it becomes less and less of an achievement when several programs can claim one. It doesn’t seem like it’s the same handful of teams winning one like it used to be.

 

[bbncal02]

Honestly the more time that goes by, the more titles get watered down as more teams start winning them. Not that they aren’t still great but it becomes less and less of an achievement when several programs can claim one. It doesn’t seem like it’s the same handful of teams winning one like it used to be.

NIL will KILL that program if they can't cash in. Moving to a more competitive conference will help.